The Executive Board of archery’s international federation demonstrated a clear commitment to supporting the International Olympic Committee’s strategic roadmap

The World Archery Executive Board met in Nottingham, GBR this weekend and discussed the impact of Olympic Agenda 2020 on the federation’s strategic plan. Discussions focused around how the sport could support the International Olympic Committee in implementing these reforms for the benefit of the federation and the entire Olympic Movement.

Led by World Archery President Prof Dr Ugur ERDENER, who is also a member of the IOC’s Executive Board and recently returned from the 127th IOC Session in Monaco, the World Archery Executive Board discussed 11 key areas taken from the Agenda 2020 items that were thought to impact the federation most.

Among those topics were the need to reinforce cooperation between member associations, the World Games and the Masters Games; making the federation’s operations more sustainable; the future role of international federations in the organisation of Games, and a strategy to maximise benefits the new Olympic Channel might have to World Archery.

The impact of the move to an events-based Olympic sports programme was also discussed and the Executive Board endorsed the submission of the mixed team event to the IOC for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

The mixed team competition is already featured at the Youth Olympic and World Games.

Speaking about Olympic Agenda 2020, Prof Dr Ugur ERDENER said: “For Olympic Agenda 2020 to be successful in bringing about real change it requires the full collaboration and engagement of every stakeholder in the Olympic Movement.”

“World Archery is fully committed to working under the leadership of IOC President Thomas BACH to play its part in creating a brighter future for sport. At Monaco last week, we entered a new era as all the recommendations were unanimously approved. Now we must work with the IOC to make the recommendations a reality.”

The next stage of the 2013-2017 World Archery Plan was discussed, taking the Agenda 2020 subjects into account. Member associations have already been given the opportunity to give their input and a working group will now produce an action plan designed to make archery an important Olympic sport nationally in countries around the globe.

A provisional list of international technical officials was approved for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. The list is gender balanced, echoing the IOC’s Agenda 2020 recommendation for gender equality in sport.

World Archery’s Executive Board awarded a number of future international events to prospective host cities:

The 2017-2019 Archery World Cup Stages were awarded to Salt Lake City, USA; Shanghai, China; Berlin, Germany and Antalya, Turkey
The 2016 World Archery Indoor Championships were awarded to Ankara, Turkey
The 2016 World Archery Field Championships were awarded to Dublin, Ireland
The 2017 World Archery 3D Championships were awarded to Robion, France
The 2017 World Archery Youth Championships were awarded to Buenos Aires, Argentina

Both Dublin 2017 and Buenos Aires 2017 are the first World Archery events ever awarded to these cities.

Archery World Cup stages continue to be awarded for a minimum three-year term in order that organising committees might leverage the events to improve promotion and awareness of archery within the host region throughout the period.

A number of bylaws were also adopted during the two-day meeting. Most important was the acceptance of a new anti-doping code, design to maintain the already-successful clean sport programme in archery in-line with the latest WADA and IOC guidelines.

Prof Dr Ugur ERDENER added: “Archery has always tried to innovate and remain at the forefront of the Olympic sport movement, ensuring the sport is as attractive to fans as is possible. The changes brought about by Olympic Agenda 2020 provide another opportunity to do that.”

“World Archery has had another successful year. As we move forward with our own strategic World Plan and a close cooperation with the IOC, I have every confidence that our sport will continue to develop and grow over the coming years.”

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